In December 2012, the Wonkblog ran a story about the laws that would have passed the 111th and 112th Congress were it not for the filibuster. The House passed-or was considering-a number of bills that would have benefited the middle class and excited Democratic voters, but those bills were killed by “moderate” Democrats in the Senate. When liberals decried the practice of threatening to filibuster one’s own party, “pragmatic” Democrats said that we had to take what we could get and let the moderates do what they needed to protect their seats.

It is not your duty. You are not obligated to vote because THE TROOPS!!!

Every year or two, the political parties play a Game of Thrones. They choose the candidates and the voters and then spend millions of dollars convincing us that the world will come to fucking end if the other team wins. If they can’t inspire you to vote because their candidates are promising, they will scare the crap out of you by pointing out the other guy is the next Hitler. For those who stopped being afraid of the team, they have another argument: It’s your duty.

That’s right. If you don’t show up and pull the lever for the lesser of the two evils, many of whom were coronated or bought their party’s nomination and may have even chosen their own voters. Yes, I know that the other guys also gerrymander legislative districts, but that doesn’t make it any more undemocratic.

Anyway, if you don’t show up and vote for a candidate you don’t like, who has no interest in following through on his/her promises, who only climbed to the top via a corrupt and undemocratic process, it is YOU, not the assholes who created this shit show, who is unpatriotic and ignoring your “civic duty”?

I lived in Florida for five years. Because I donated to and volunteered for Democrats in Florida, I find myself on about a billion different fundraising “activist” email lists. So it was no surprise to me that every Democrat running for something in Florida contacted me today to let me know that if I would just chip in $5 or $10 to help candidate X win election Y, they will “fight” to overturn today’s SCOTUS verdicts.

I’ll let you know what’s going on, but I don’t need new congressional authority to act, President Barack Obama told congressional leaders Wednesday about his upcoming decision on possible military intervention in Iraq.

SNIP

While the White House statement emphasized Obama would continue to consult with Congress, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the President “basically just briefed us on the situation in Iraq and indicated he didn’t feel he had any need for authority from us for the steps that he might take.”

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California agreed with McConnell’s assessment, adding she believed congressional authorization for military force in Iraq back in 2001 and 2003 still applied.

Every now and then, Politico has a story of substance, one that does not glorify politicos or obsess over meaningless political nonsense. Today, I read Saving Private Bergdahl, a story about a failed mission to rescue Bowe Bergdahl, the sole anonymous source of which claimed to have been injured on the mission.

“I don’t hate Bergdahl,” says C. “But he needs to be held accountable for his bad decision to leave his crew during war. When people say Bergdahl served his country with honor, that’s an incorrect summary of his service. There are families whose loved ones went deep into harm’s way because of Bergdahl’s choice.”

Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesn’t mean they want to pay it.

To reduce the tax pinch, the Clintons are using financial planning strategies befitting the top 1 percent of U.S. households in wealth. These moves, common among multimillionaires, will help shield some of their estate from the tax that now tops out at 40 percent of assets upon death.

SNIP

Among the tax advantages of such trusts is that any appreciation in the house’s value can happen outside their taxable estate. The move could save the Clintons hundreds of thousands of dollars in estate taxes, said David Scott Sloan, a partner at Holland & Knight LLP in Boston.

Well, who would know more about hopelessness and depression than a self-loathing ex-gay? DL Foster is a “former homosexual” and the founder of the Gay Christian Movement Watch (an excuse to stare at gay men?). He argues that Dan Savage is perpetuating a myth, that LGBT youth should not expect life to get better. For peddling this false hope, Dan Savage should be punished.